newportbeachindy . com JUNE 9 , 2023 9
STEPPING OUT
Newport Theatre Arts Center ’ s Enjoyable ‘ Guys and Dolls ’ is Right on the Money
The Cast of “ Guys and Dolls ” / photo by Charles Weinberg
By Eric Marches | Special to the NB Indy
If you ’ ve ever seen “ Guys and Dolls ,” you ’ ll note that its characters speak in a distinctive style best known as Runyon-ese . The short stories of Damon Runyon were populated with colorful figures bearing memorable monikers whose florid speech was a hoot .
As that one-of-a-kind Runyon flavor permeates the 1950 Broadway musical , productions of it tend toward the exaggeratedly comical . Every line and syllable of Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling ’ s book and Frank Loesser ’ s lyrics is punched up to drive home the laughs .
At Newport Theatre Arts Center , director Holly Jones and company take an approach that diverges from the typical staging : They play the assortment of gamblers , showgirls , small-time racketeers and cops as real people .
No overemphasizing each characters ’ peculiar , singular way of mangling the English language and no hammering us over the head in an attempt to evoke laughs .
And guess what ? It works like a charm . The laughs are still there , and in force . You can ’ t help but laugh at the dialogue and chuckle over the lyrics – but Jones and her cast make Nathan Detroit , Miss Adelaide , Benny Southstreet and others believable .
Since this collection of eccentrics doesn ’ t seem so farfetched , we ’ re even more inclined to laugh . Style takes a back seat to substance , and that opens things up . We laugh , but the considerable amount of heart embodied in the story and its characters is brought to the fore .
Two desperate individuals are the focus : The Salvation Army ’ s Sister
Sarah Brown ( Michelle de la Peña ) and Nathan Detroit ( Bob Fetes ) who , since time immemorial , has run the city ’ s “ oldest established permanent floating crap game .”
Sister Sarah tries , in vain , to attract the neighborhood ’ s profusion of sinners to the Save-A-Soul Mission . Nathan , meantime , is desperate to land a spot for his latest floating craps game .
Nathan is also bent upon getting fabled high-roller Sky Masterson ( Tom Proprofsky ) into bankrolling the cost of the game ’ s overhead , which is all the more difficult now that the heat is on – namely , the unwanted law enforcement scrutiny of Lt . Brannigan lovable even despite his obvious flaws . His determination to retain his bachelorhood even while engaged generates laughs , as does his desperation to perpetuate the game .
NTAC ’ s staging shows , through Fetes and Liza A . Rios , that their two characters ’ mutual love is genuine . Rios ’ s put-upon Miss Adelaide , a fool for love who enables Nathan ’ s evasive personality , has our sympathies . In singing the delightful “ Adelaide ’ s Lament ,” Rios is quietly sensational , and in this song and throughout her performance , she smartly avoids overdoing Adelaide ’ s nagging of her longtime fiancé .
The comedic contrast between Nathan and Sky is marked : Proprofsky ’ s Sky exudes low-key self-confidence , with just enough substance beneath the roguish façade – an earnest antihero . By contrast , Fetes ’ Nathan is fidgety , nervous and insecure .
Proprofsky creates an arc in Sky ’ s ( Ian MacGregor ). personality shift as the gambler is
Sky , trying to win a bet with Nathan , gives Sister Sarah his marker how to deal with the confusion caused
emotionally turned inside-out , unsure
( IOU ) good for one-dozen sinners by true love . – but she won ’ t have anything to do De la Peña ’ s “ I ’ ll Know ” displays the with him . Any guy who gambles ardent emotions Sarah feels when putting into song the sterling qualities of for a living lacks substance , and she wouldn ’ t dream of having “ a fly-bynight Broadway romance ” with him . – her romantic attention . After Sky
whatever guy will win – and deserve
As the gambler and the lady have so has whisked Sarah away to Havana for little in common , it ’ s to Sky ’ s surprise dinner , de la Peña glows as her character learns to relax and , for the first that he ’ s genuinely attracted to her , which considerably raises the stakes time in her life , enjoy herself . of his pursuit of her . The unlikely All four leads – Fetes , Rios , Proprofsky and de la Peña – make their roles romance that blooms between them is therefore genuinely sweet .
Fetes ’ Nathan is a slick little schnook we , like Miss Adelaide , find GUYS AN DDOLLS Page 14
LOCAL FOCUS OP / ED
Despite Narcan Availability , Fentanyl Deaths Continue to Climb
By Matthew Reed , M . D . | Hoag Hospital ’ s Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute
More than car accidents . More than suicide . More than gun violence .
Fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death for people ages 18-49 , a startling fact that prompted the Food and Drug Administration to approve naloxone ( commonly known as Narcan ) for over-thecounter sales in March .
Narcan reverses the effects of opioids ( fentanyl , OxyContin , methadone , Vicodin and heroin ) and can save a person from dying of an overdose . Since 2021 , Hoag and other hospitals have handed out free doses funded by the state to people who cannot afford them or who have a prior history of drug use . But when it comes to issues of illicit drug use , not everyone wants to engage doctors and pharmacists .
For example , while pharmacists have had a standing prescription in many states to dispense Narcan to whomever requests it , of the nearly 17 million naloxone doses distrib-
FENTANYL Page 15
Dr . Matthew Reed